DIOCESE OF WESTERN AMERICA: August 23, 2012
Metropolitan Ilarion of Volokolamsk Will Visit the US for 200th Anniversary Celebrations of Fort Ross

On August 23-28, 2012, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and the invitation of His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, His Eminence Metropolitan Ilarion of Volokolamsk, President of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department of External Church Relations, will visit the United States to participate in the 200th anniversary celebrations of the founding of Fort Ross, CA, which represents the initial presence of Russians in America.

On August 24, Metropolitan Ilarion will take part in the opening of a round table in San Francisco titled “Compatriots and the Russian Orthodox Church: Cooperation in North America and Oceania.” The organizers of this event are the DECR and the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation. Later that day, Vladyka Ilarion will visit the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute, Berkeley.

On August 25, Metropolitan Ilarion will participate in the 200th anniversary celebrations of the establishment of Fort Ross by celebrating Divine Liturgy at its Holy Trinity Church. On August 26, Vladyka Ilarion will celebrate Divine Liturgy at the second most important church of the Patriarchal Parishes in the US, St Nicholas Cathedral in San Francisco.

On the feast day of the Dormition of the Mother of God, August 28, Vladyka Metropolitan will celebrate Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia in San Francisco.

Press service of the DECR